May Diary 🌸🪷🪻🌺
An instagram-famous pasteis de nata pop up I didn't like, 1992 J. Crew, "the splinter era", iced tea hive, testing out Roucha's pants, my diary/intimate thoughts.
Howdy and happy Friday! Let’s catch up, shall we? As always with a good email, I am wayyyyy over the length limit, so I recommend viewing this in your browser or the lovely Substack app.
Before we get into my recs, I’d actually love some of yours! I’m really looking for more influencers/creators/tastemakers on Instagram who are women and 50+… if you follow anyone awesome, please send ‘em my way! (Yes, this is for Prima. Yes, First Rodeo readers get $20 off Prima with code ZOE, forever and always. I am in charge and I say it’s ok.)
I splurged on a pair of Roucha pants. I went with ecru and despite being panicky about buying a pair of white pants, and really trying to lean into the below mantra. 😵💫 The pants are fucking marvelous, by the way. Worth every cent and I may buy more. I have already come so close to spilling on these— the second day I wore them I made a green lasagna (inspired by Rolo’s) and the blender exploded not once, not twice, but three times while I was making the silky sauce. (Should I have stopped trying to purée after the first blender explosion? YES, this is why I’ve never been a good candidate for white pants.)
If they get dirty it just adds character, if they get dirty it just adds character, if it gets dirty it just adds character…
Everything at J Crew is to die for right now. I started to make a little folder of everything I loved and thought was noteworthy so I could show you, but then it just ended up being… like… everything. Speaking of, enjoyed
‘s deep dive into 90’s J Crew.
I am waiting for that Memorial Day Sale to hit… just checking my watch… whenever you’re ready, J Crew…Found this (a little too expensive for me) Alex Mill sweater yesterday via
and I’m drooling over it… she also linked this Ciao Lucia dress that I looooooove with flip flops. (I love everything Ciao Lucia does.) But again, we can’t be spending this much to wear something with flip flops!
I have shouted both of these out before, but I have been starting and ending my day with this duo: Moon Juice Pomelo Mini Dew and Wooden Spoon Herbs Magic Magnesium, respectively. They are fueling me perfectly now that I am in my workout/strength era— I used to drink a lot of those hydration packets but they don’t align with my no sugar vibe, the electrolytes I get from the Mini Dew are infinitely better.
Bloomberg confirming what I’ve been saying about youth culture just being debt and Buy Now Pay Later “phantom debt”… Wall Street Journal piling on with new data around Gen Z credit card usage/sign up age too…
LOVE and agree with
’s take in “Why Is Everyone Horny For Magnum PI?” I personally think all men should dress like Tom Selleck and I passive aggressively forwarded this to my boyfriend. I keep seeing the brand Alémais literally everywhere and I want it every single time, but file under “things I could never spend that much money on, even if I could afford to, because I simply don’t believe in spending 3-4 figures on askirt[insert any item name here].”I tried this pasteis de nata pop-up over the weekend, with my boyfriend, João. João, as you may have inferred from his name, is from Portugal, and we are both two absolute nata hardos— we are crushing several of these a day when in
RomePortugal. I’d heard folks saying great things about this small business operating out of NYC… it was not for me!
I get that João and I are those assholes who want everything to be “authentic” and that makes us annoying— fine, I’ll take the L there. We’re annoying. (It’s driving me nuts how they are positioning natas as “Portugal’s best kept secret”— they’re not a secret at all, you can buy one on every corner, there are regional varieties in countries Portugal once colonized, they’re everywhere! Just not in America.1) This is a case of great branding eclipsing a bad to mediocre product with a way too “wet” crust.
Anyways, I’ve been wanting to just do it myself. I ordered the tins and I’m not going to stop until I get that crust right and the optimal amount of browning on the top. I will not fuck around with “flavors”— that is not what natas are for.
I realized I’ve just poured you a large glass of Haterade for a small business (bad look), but the quest to make an actually good nata in the US has married quite nicely with another one of my goals, wanting to host a virtual bake sale to raise money for World Central Kitchen’s efforts to feed kids in Gaza. I love that damn José Andres, man!
I have done this in the past many times at Food52, where I’d host in-office bake sales and take over a banquet table near the test kitchen. I’d usually proffer my pimento cheese sourdough boules, my talented friends on the edit team would bake kardemummabullar or buckwheat chocolate chip cookies, and we’d have the best time. I have fun pictures somewhere, who knows where.
I’m still working out what the offerings will be— I’ll offer local delivery and will try to test some options that can ship nationwide throughout the US.
This is all to say, announcing the first ever First Rodeo Charity Bakesale! 😇 Any requests for bakesale goods, or if you live nearby and want to help or contribute, just hit my line. When the time comes, would love for you to share with your friends!This update on Substack’s foray into video from
kind of scared me. I guess I could do YouTube video style podcasts of my SO YOU WANT TO START A BRAND series or something. I just don’t feel like anyone would want to watch me.I think
captured what Tinx has called “the splinter era” very well— that late 20s (let’s be real, in NYC it’s early to mid 30s— we are on a Sex And The City timeline over here) time frame where a once inseparable-totally-on-the-same-page group of friends are now suddenly torn in a million different directions: one is pregnant! One is getting married! One is dying to get engaged soon! One is quitting her job and moving to Italy! One is making partner!
